Diego Maradona sings as Brazil go flat

Dermot Corrigan

Friday, July 11, 2014

Argentina legend Diego Maradona celebrated Brazil's historic 7-1 defeat to Germany in Tuesday's World Cup semifinal by singing a song used by Albiceleste supporters to poke fun at their South American neighbours.

Brazil's nightmare in Belo Horizonte saw them fall 5-0 down inside the first half-hour, with four of the goals coming between the 23rd and 29th minutes.

"I had not liked Brazil at any moment in the tournament, but I did not think Germany would be so convincing," he added.

"Brazil had no midfield, and defenders Dante and David Luiz never worked together. The most serious is that we have been saying that Brazil without Neymar have no play -- today, they just hit long balls.

"But Germany always had the game in their hands. With the 6-1 [sic], I was about to call off the game because the [tennis] set was already over. They did not just roll over them, they crushed them.

"Every time they passed halfway, it was half a goal. If they paused, it was to just to tap the ball in. It is hard to pick out one player as, from the goalkeeper to their last substitute, they did everything well."

Brazil's players, meanwhile, were stunned. Right-back Dani Alves, an unused substitute, told AS he had never experienced anything like the six-minute period in which Germany scored four.

"In my 31 years, I have never seen this difference between the teams and conceded so many goals like that," he said.

"It is the worst defeat of my career. That decided the game -- I do not think there is much more analysis. Every one of us has our own responsibility to take on. But of course I am very proud of having formed part of this group. We gave everything we had."

Real Madrid's Marcelo, who had a torrid night at left-back, said everything had gone "black" for the players.

"It has been a nightmare, a horrible night, the worst of my career," he said. "The six minutes when they scored four goals... the light went out, you saw everything black. We did not know what to do."